In a network management system, operators design programs to create operations for controlling network elements. Such an operation is a sequence of application requests, of control functions, of assignments etc. in the network management system. To create the operations the operators use special script languages which enable an inexperienced programmer to define complex management tasks in a simple and understandable manner. Such script languages are proprietary and converting the statements of the script language into statements of a more comfortable higher programming language for execution of the management tasks requires the development of a special interpreter.
It is known from "Do it yourself TMN applications by visual programming methods" by C. Schmidt et al, International Switching Symposium April 1995, Volume 2, B 8.2, that the statements in the script language can be supported by optical programming techniques, such as by means of hypertext structures. In the known programming manner of the above article, predefined blocks (templates) are built and correspond to a statement in the script language. The blocks are displayed in hypertext on a screen and an operator can use a mouse to connect the blocks to each other in the desired manner. The operations for controlling the network elements are constructed in this way. The proposed optical programming technique only provides the operator with an indication of the operation by means of text and graphics. Processing the information of the individual operation steps, i.e. loops, conditions, etc. for linking the operation steps, must be created by the operator himself with the script language.